Friday – 31 October – Bedouins and the Dead Sea

We had to pack up the suitcases again after enjoying 5 nights at the same hotel in Jerusalem.  Today we headed down to Lakia to enjoy a ‘day in the life’ of a Bedouin.  We learned social customs, how to make coffee, tending for sheep/goats, getting married, and making pita bread, and more.....

Our 68 year old host and her daughter

Making coffee

Tending goats and sheep

Spinning wool

Traditional wedding garb for the groom
and his TWO brides!

Making pita bread on the fire.

Eating Pita Bread with Olive Oil & Spices

Ellen can't stay away, and has to try her hand.....

At least it tasted pretty good.......

After Israel became a nation, the Bedouin lifestyle was drastically affected.  They were no longer nomads and had to settle down in towns and houses.  Historically the women were very busy tending flocks, setting up/tearing down tents, finding food, cooking and washing and had never been educated as the men were.  When they moved into towns, their workload was much less. 

In the 1980’s a group of 4 young teenage girls started their own efforts to get education for themselves and mothers and also began to find both social and work activities that helped them grow.  Today they have a thriving business.  Check them out at www.desert-embroidery.org

Inside the tent made of wool

Some of the embroidery products

A very expensive formal dress

Ellen found several things to buy....

Local women create embroider pieces of fabric in their
homes and then here in the workroom, it's turned into
products like pillows, purses, etc.

After a big lunch with the Bedouins, we headed east and ‘down’ to the Dead Sea.  We went from 1,500 feet ABOVE sea level to 1,300 feet BELOW.  We’ll be staying here for two nights.  We got to ‘float’ on the Dead Sea.  The water is so saturated with salt and other minerals that everything floats much higher than in fresh water.  Once you’re floating it’s very hard to get your feet back on the bottom.  It IS relaxing though.

On the decent to the Dead Sea

The water is incredibly salty and also very bitter from
all the minerals.  If it gets in your eyes.....
You won't do that again.

The beach

Thursday, 30 October

Right after breakfast, we spent over and hour with a Palestinian journalist.  He was educated at the U of North Carolina and after living in New York for a while, returned to Jerusalem.  He explained the current situation from the Palestinian view point.  He is a ‘moderate’ Arab.  He lives in East Jerusalem, (which is part of the West Bank and home to the recent riots) so he only has an ‘identity card’ as opposed to a passport.  They have to pay Israeli taxes but they have no vote or representation in the government.  He was ‘for’ the Oslo Peace Accords, but after Rabin’s assassination in 1995, Israel never followed through on the treaty.  He’s very knowledgeable of the intricate politics involved between the US, Israel, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and even Iran.  He described the situation as a plate of spaghetti, so that what ever you try to move causes the whole plate to change.  It’s very complicated with ‘hot heads’ on both sides causing the unrest.  He doesn’t hold much hope for a ‘quick’ solution but he does believe that over time, pressure on Israel will force them to do something.  His opinion is that the ‘Two State” solution would be fine.  The West Bank and Gaza would become a recognized Palestinian Nation and a place for those Arabs and Christians to call home.  If Israel insists on maintaining the current annexed borders but grants citizenship to the Palestinian people, then they will very shortly out number the Israeli Jews and have control of the government.  During the day we did hear gun fire in the Arab section of Jerusalem.  Our guide assumed it was the police firing rubber bullets or tear gas for crowd/riot control.

An informative lecture from the West Bank
point of view.....

 We boarded the bus and travelled south, past Bethlehem to Herodian,  which is where King Herod the Great is buried.  He had originally started to build a small palace there, but when he found that he could not see Jerusalem from that site, he had the mountain made higher…..  When he decided to build his own mausoleum there, he had the rest of the mountain covered up so it would emphasize his own tomb.  He was considered a ‘great’ builder from his works at Caesarea, Jerusalem, and other places but he was a ruthless politician.   He had his favorite wife, Miriam, and his children and grandchildren murdered because they were Maccabees.   His son was the Herod Antipas who had all the newborn male children killed after Jesus’ birth and was the King when Jesus was crucified.

Some of the areas still under control of the Palestinian Authority

View from the top of Herodian overlooking the Judaean Dessert

We have class all day.....

One of the three cisterns that held rain water

Young girls in the Israeli Army with their purses,
handbags and automatic weapons.......

We had lunch at Mt Elias (Elijah), which used to be a Monastery.   The portions were huge.

After lunch we drove to Ain Karem, which is the home of St. John, the Baptist.  We first visited St. John the Baptist Church, which is built over the site where he was born.

The altar  in the Church

Down in the grotto where John wss born

The actual birthplace

A Spanish Franciscan monk, with Ellen and
our traveling companion, Flat Stanley.

We then climbed the hill to the Church of the Visitation, which commemorates the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth, who was the mother of John.  That was where Mary recited the “Magnificat”.

Out side the church

The entrance to the church

The Magnificat in English

The Magnificat in EVERY language

The Church altar

We got back to the hotel for our last night in Jerusalem and went out to dinner.

Wednesday, 29 October

It wasn’t’ a very cheerful way to start the day, but we began with a visit to the Holocaust History Museum.  It’s called "Yad Vashem", which is literally a name and a memorial.  Throughout the gardens, there are trees that represent memorials to the 2,400 non-Jewish people who helped people escape the holocaust (i.e. Oscar Schindler, etc.)

We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but we spent over two hours there learning about the history of discrimination against the Jews, their persecution and finally genocide.  It was both graphic and moving…….  Outdoors there were more monuments memorializing the 1.5 million children who were murdered, and some of the people who cared for and died with them.

We then got to spend an hour with an 86 year old survivor of the Holocaust.  He was raised in Poland, lived the ghettos there as an 11 year old, saw his parents sent to camps where they were killed and his brother captured and sent to the camps.  He also was sent to a death camp, but he was one of several hundred out of 7,000 who were selected for work details instead of the gas chambers.  After the Americans liberated them, he came to Israel and fought in the War for Liberation.

We had a quick lunch in a cafeteria and then went to the Hadassah University Medical Center to view the Chagall Windows.  They are a set of 12 stained glass art windows over a Synagogue each dedicated to one of Jacob’s sons and their 12 tribes.  No photos were allowed there either……….

We then went back to the Museum of Israel, where we’d been yesterday, but this time we toured and Archeological and Jewish Life sections.  We spent 3 hours there. 

They also had an outdoor exhibit/artwork called “Bambu”.  28 rock climbers took 10,000 bamboo poles, 80,000 feet of rope and 7 weeks building the 60’ tall structure using a ‘design-as-you-go’ plan.

Our last stop of the day was a home-hosted dinner from an ‘ultra-orthodox’ family.  They follow the most rigid rules.  Many of the men spend their lives in religious study while their wives work full time to provide financial support and also raise an average of 8 children.  ‘Match-makers’ arrange dating and marriage.  They do live in a culture all their own.

Tuesday, 28 October - City of David and Bethlehem

We had the best night sleep so far.  Here is a picture of our Hotel.

Our first tour was the City of David.  It’s just below the south wall of the Old City.  It was a very small but well defended village when David captured it 1000 years before Jesus.  It was just below Mount Moriah which is where his son, Solomon built the first Temple.

Standing next to David's harp.

Looking across into the Arab section of town.

There is a lot of archeological digging going on since Israel gained control of East Jerusalem after the 6 day war in 1967.  They found another tunnel that we took from the City of David area back toward the Western (Wailing) Wall.  Portions of that wall have just been exposed.

Part of an arch that collapsed.

An active excavation

Some of the tunnels are very narrow
(or... Ellen's too wide)

The south wall of the The Temple Mount.

Our next stop was the Israel Museum.  They had a 1/50^th scale model of what Jerusalem would have looked like in 66 A.D., just before the Romans destroyed it.  The museum also housed the Dead Sea Scrolls, but we were not allowed to take any pictures in that area.

Model of the Temple Mount

Overall view of the model

The old walled "City of David" area below
the Temple Mount

Not far away was the Parliament Building of Israel (The Knesset) and a large sculpture of a menorah given to Israel by Britain.

The Knesset in the background.
(It's in session now)

We then traveled 40 minutes down to Bethlehem.  We had to cross a ‘border’ back into the West Bank.  We had a nice lunch and then visited the Shepard’s Fields where Angels appeared to the shepards.

Our lunch in Bethlehem

The Chapel of the Angels

This is a grotto (cave) where shepards would have
been keeping the sheep at night.

We went back into town and visited the Church of the Nativity which is over 1,500 years old.  It’s currently undergoing a major renovation.  The Church is built over the place where they believe the stable was where Jesus was born.  It was very crowded and the actual stable area is very small.

There are no copywriter laws in the West Bank

In the middle of a MAJOR renovation..

The Church of the Nativity

Down in the old stable area...

Kneeling to kiss the place of the birth.

Right next to the old Greek Orthodox Church is a recent (only 120 year old) Catholic church.  That is where they do the live worldwide TV broadcast of the Christmas Eve service every year.